| Have
you ever stared at a cloud-filled sky, pondering
the meaning of life, searching for an answer in
the shape of the clouds? Or perhaps you've sought
counsel in the Tarot cards, through astrology,
or the Chinese I Ching. All of these are forms
of oracular guidance and problem-solving known
as divination. There are many kinds of divination
and they all seek to find hidden knowledge from
a higher source. They show us the divine will
in answer to important life questions.
Life
is filled with important questions and how we
answer them may affect us and others for years
to come. Which house shall I buy/rent? Is this
a good location for my business? How can I increase
my creativity? How do I slow down to my own natural
rhythm?
The ancient world had many sacred divination sites
and temples. People went there on pilgrimages
seeking advice for problems and healing for illnesses.
The Delphic Oracle in Greece is perhaps the best
known. Priestesses who had passed through menopause
and thus possessed great spiritual power, served
as oracles to the Greeks. They attended the goddess
Gaia, the great mother earth creatrix, and performed
oracular divinations inside the Temple of Delphi,
deep in the earth.
The
Delphic priestesses could see into the future
and were in direct communication with the goddess
who possessed the wisdom of the universe. When
asked a question, they would go into trance, holding
a snake in each hand and speak the answers aloud
in a sacred language. They received direct revelations
from the female helping spirit, Gaia and were
renowned for the accuracy of their predictions.
The
Delphic Oracle was part of the time-honored shamanic
tradition. As a spiritual problem-solving methodology
shamanism has been in use for the last forty thousand
years on all inhabited continents. Employing the
divination tools of the drum, bones, stones, crystals
and the shamanic journey, shamans are able to
locate wandering herds of animals needed for food,
divine the weather, diagnose sickness and solve
problems for individuals and the tribe.
One
of the classic techniques used by shamans in the
north is the placing of a caribou scapula (shoulder
blade) into a sacred fire and asking an urgent
question such as the location of the migrating
herds of caribou. The cracked and blackened bone
is then pulled out of the fire and read by the
shaman just like a map. Time and again this method
worked, the herds were found in exactly the location
shown on the scapula and the people survived on
the food from the hunt.
Similarly,
the shamans in old China used tortoise shells
blackened in the fire. These are the origins of
the modern I Ching Book of Changes. Thankfully
coins are now used instead of plates from tortoise
shells. According to the ancient Chinese, writing
was also created as a divination tool to connect
with and channel the divine source.
Many
shamanic divination techniques are used for looking
into the future. When a child is born, the shaman
can see what the soul of the child is bringing
in and what her soul wants to express. Once this
is revealed, these talents and gifts can be nurtured
by friends and family.
Crystal gazing techniques are also well known
among shamanic peoples. Natural quartz crystals
are strong energy magnifiers and the shaman can
"skry" for an answer to a person's question,
seeing present circumstances as well as future
events.
Helping
spirits in the form of power animal allies, spirit
teachers and ancestors all help the shaman and
the modern day shamanic practitioner to uncover
guidance from hidden sources, information not
readily available otherwise. Questions like, "Where
should we move to?" "How do we prepare
for the coming winter?" and "What crops
do we best plant this spring?" are important
divination ones. The shaman is like a human tuning
fork, singing the truths of prophecy and divine
wisdom in her bones.
Last
year I was in a huge transition and wanted to
have all my power and energy in one place, here
in Mt. Shasta. I needed to sell my home in Santa
Cruz and my tenant was creating havoc with the
process. Distressed, I went out to walk in the
hills here, seeking the wisdom of the helping
spirits. I was wrestling with the question of
whether to pay a moving company to move my tenant
out. Clearly I didn't invite this extra expense,
but she experienced it as a hardship to live in
a house that was going on the market.
Suddenly
a magnificent bald eagle flew right across my
line of vision, cutting through all my uncertainty.
The answer was immediately clear. Be kind, do
the right thing, share your resources. The movers
were able to move her out within two days and
the house became ready for sale. Serendipitously
I learned a month later that there were allegedly
illegal things being grown on my property, and
I was confirmed on another level that I'd made
the right decision. The helping spirits were in
possession of even larger information than I could
have known at the time.
Shamanic divination methods are used to look into
big truths about our past, present and future.
Working shamanically with our helping spirits
enables us to expand our present possibilities
and discover who we fundamentally are. When we
ask the compassionate spirits for what we truly
need, vast healing and wisdom opens to us. We
can change our story and move out of being victims
of circumstance and into our empowered, whole
selves. We can remember who we are, what our soul's
purpose is and what gifts we came into this lifetime
with.
Beth
Beurkens M.A. is a poet, creative writing teacher
and shamanic practitioner of 14 years. She is
on the faculty of the College of the Siskiyous
and is faculty at the Foundation For Shamanic
Studies. She has studied extensively with Michael
Harner and Sandra Ingerman.
Reprinted
from Mountain Spirit Chronicles, Issue 4, 2006,
Mt. Shasta, CA
(541) 708-0473
beth@shamanicuniverse.com |
